The Lost Dragon
by Dassadec
Summary: An accident leads a juvenile steel dragon to the world of Harry Potter. Telling the story of his hurdles in a land where magic follows similar if different rules. No Ships as of yet.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling and to all those she has contracted with on said title.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dungeons and Dragons or The Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Said titles belong to Wizards of the Coast, Ed Greenwood, and all those they have contracted with on their original works.

Disclaimer: This is a piece of fan-fiction and is written without intention of profit. Any true life names, people, or places mentioned in this work are completely coincidental.

Prologue:

I've lived and worked in Waterdeep most of my "young" life and am one of the many steel smiths that works for a living in the City of Splendors. Only after learning the subtle science of weapon-smithing have I been able to afford my own house and workshop. Searching for mortgages to buy from local banks found me a decent tower in a good neighborhood that belonged to an old human wizard.

Purchasing the Script for his dept was easy to accomplish. Acquiring a new payment arrangement, however, was proving to be difficult. After several meetings I learned that the old wizard, Sirius Black, was working on creating new portals in a research project for the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors. A Guild Wizard of Waterdeep, Mr. Black was researching new portal creation methods for his Guild. As such he was a little strapped for cash at the moment. We finally did agree that in lieu of payment in gold, I would get a room to sleep in and some workshop space to work on my own projects.

After the first few ten-days we had gotten our routines down so that we were not constantly tripping over each other in the lab. I was at the time working on new arrowheads when Sirius let slip about what he was currently working on. He told me in confidence that he was not from this world and that after nearly seventy years of portal creation he was finally getting close to going home. This of course prompted the question of why he didn't try a simple _Banishment_ spell or even a _Wish _or a _Miracle_ spell. Mr. Black had replied that he had tried all of that already. It was only fifteen years or research that led him to believe that the _Portal_ that he fell through to get here was a One-Way _Portal_ and that there was some kind of odd time distortion involved with the trip. When I asked what was so important that he spend such effort on getting to his home plane, he proceeded to tell me all about the world that he came from and his quest to know what had happened to his Godson.

It was after my third monthly hunting trip that Sirius confronted me on what I was. I of course tried to deny his allegations until I realized that a _true seeing_ spell had been cast on my person. Usually when people find out that their landlord and roommate is a dragon they either attack or try to kick them out. So, when the moment of truth came, I was pleasantly surprised when all he did was chuckle and give me a grandfatherly pat on the back.

On that particular trip I had picked up a fair amount of treasure off of a small band of adventurers. Two powered wizards, a cleric of Velsharoon, and a barbarian were quickly dispatched. They were fairly disheveled when I attacked after I caught them looting one of the outlying graveyards. From the way they fought me it was obvious that they were inexperienced, had just lost a lot of people, or they had spent all their strengths on something nasty that was guarding that resting place. Judging from the amount of treasure that I looted off of their cold dead corpses, I guessed that I had caught them after a large draining battle.

Following the brief confrontation, Mr. Black went back to work on his latest _Portal_, and I proceeded to transfer my loot into my Heward's Handy Haversack that I was currently using to hold my Horde until I could find a safe place to permanently store my wealth. Quickly transferring in the gold and valuables, I set aside the magic items that I wanted to identify in the morning. Pack attached firmly to my back I started to walk over to Sirius's workstation to see what he was up to when the lab went straight to hell.

Looking back on it now, I distinctly remember the _Portal_ in front of me flickering on in a shimmering plane of dark green light. Sirius Black, in the last words I ever heard from him, shouted, "Eureka! I did it! Whoopee!" My guess is that one of the magic items behind me triggered on one of his words because suddenly there was a great explosion behind me and I was knocked off my feet falling headfirst though the newly active experimental _Portal_. A flash of dark green and severe pain accompanied me to a dusty room were unconsciousness met me.


	2. Waking Up

Disclaimer: Faerun, Dungeons & Dragons, and Harry Potter are owned by other people.

Chapter 1: Waking Up or WTF!

Breathing in lots of dust, I awoke to blinding pain and darkness. I was laying on a smooth stone floor in the corner of a large space. First impressions, aside from the agony of strained muscles, was that I was in some sort of seldom visited storage facility as many shelves and crates filled my vision. Seeing nobody in my vicinity, I transformed into my natural form and used my draconic senses to confirm that I was alone.

To my immediate dismay I learned that whatever it was that I went through had discharged all of my spells for the day as I first tried to heal myself by converting to cure spells. A simple cantrip out of my Sorcerer spells failing and I learned that the discharge was complete. Grabbing my conveniently available pack and calling forth my Bag of Holding Type IV that contained my collection of cure potions, I quickly healed myself to full health. I was really sort of glad that I had collected all of the potions that I collected off of unfortunate adventuring parties that crossed my path and lost.

Once healed, I tried praying for spells. Not finding the Deity that usually granted my spells to me, I began search for Deities that would grant me spells in this place, wherever this place was. I prayed for over nine hours straight before finding a Deity that I agreed with. Several of the ones that I stumbled upon were stingy in their gifts. In that ninth hour I found one that served dragons and humans in this universe. He would give me access to spells quickly in that I could either sleep eight hours and get my spells in one hour's worth of praying (or meditating for Sorcerer spells), or I could spend ten minutes per spell level per spell in prayer or meditation to get spells back without sleeping first.

Calling it a day well spent, I ate some ration bars from my pack and curled up for a night's rest. In the morning I prayed for an hour and meditated for an hour and got all of my spells back. Thanking my new Deity again, I ate a few more rations to break my fast and started exploring my new environs. Many of the objects stored in the boxes were strange to me. I did find a few wood working tools and some glass jars filled with preserved food before I found a set of wooden stairs leading up to a strange looking door.

Folding my wings up, I proceeded to climb the stairs. Still sensing no other presence nearby, it took little work to figure out that the metal knob needed to be turned to open the door. The room that greeted my eyes was as familiar as it was strange. Chairs of exquisite craftsmanship surrounded a great hearth. On the wall on either side of the hearth bookshelves filled with books ran from the floor to the ceiling. A strange wood and glass box sat on display in one corner of the room and a wine bar was opposite the hearth and next to a short hallway. Windows containing the smoothest glass I had ever seen filled up the intervening wall. If not for my spell work, then for the strange moon and night sky that lay beyond those windows confirmed that I was on a different Material Sphere.

Exploring the rest of what I came to find was a house proved to be a great juxtaposition in questions and answers. On the ground floor I found an indoor privy made of white glass, more very smooth glass in windows and mirrors, and many varied strange metal boxes with doors on them. A small seat six Dining room and a seat four servants table made for an odd eating environment. An entry hall led to the stairs for the second floor. Up there I found two more indoor privies that each hade their own bathing areas. Four bedrooms with very soft beds and closets filled with baubles and humanoid clothing made me wonder where the owners of this place were.

On the ground floor there had been four doors leading to the outside. Opening the door to the entry hall led me eventually to a great discovery. I propped open the door and proceeded to explore around the house. A smooth stone pathway led to a smooth stone road. One end of the road led to a large building that I found to be a barn for animals and strange horseless carriages. The animals in the building proved to be some sort of bovine if of course I was looking at the bones correctly. One of the carriages contained a human skeleton with massive damage to its head caused by the Gnome built hand cannon in the seat with it. Along with the body I found a key ring that I later learned had keys for the house on it. The other end of the road led through the surrounding forest as far as the eye could see and would have to wait for morning to be fully explored.

When morning came the light revealed a home overrun by nature. It was kind of homey in a rustic, overgrown way. An exploration of the property revealed the probable cause of the owner's demise. There was an area more cleared than the rest of the yard that contained five gravestones. The inscriptions written in Common (English) foretold the deaths of an entire family in a very short span of time. Being respectful of the deceased, I dug a grave next to the woman's headstone and buried the remains of the husband. The digging of a mass grave for the animals nearby and some crude stone carving later and I was prepared to start the magical process that would ensure that the remains stayed in the ground. Praying for thirty minutes I received a _consecrate_ spell to cast over the graveyard.

Casting the spell went without a hitch. Praying for another thirty minutes to get another spell proved to be no problem. It's what came an hour later that started my next great adventure.


	3. Magic Trouble

Disclaimer: D&D, Faerun, and Harry Potter are owned by other wealthier people than me.

Chapter 2: Magic Trouble

After getting my spell back from the burial, I set to work to make the house livable again. The central point for any good home is its hearth, so I quickly gathered up the dead wood on the property into a great pile. Just as I finished clearing the yard of debris, a large barn owl swooped out of the canopy and attacked me with a white object. Hitting me on my flank the object didn't do me any harm. The owl then tried to fly away, but thinking quickly, I fired off a _magic missile_ at the bird. All four missiles hit their mark and the bird instantly died.

Not being one to pass up an opportunity, I hung the bird from a tree for later plucking and a fresh meal. I took a few moments to get my spell back before searching the house for cleaning supplies. I had cleaned out the hearth thoroughly, using a combination of my acid breath and some hard labor, by the time I was attacked again by two owls. Splitting up the spell this time so that two missiles hit each bird still killed them quickly. When I tied up the birds this time I noticed that while one of the birds had let loose its object the other still had an object attached to its leg. Removing the object from the leg and retrieving the other two objects, I investigated them. A _detect magic_ spell proved them to be un-magical objects. I cautiously unrolled them one-by-one and discovered that each was a letter.

The first letter was from a Mrs. Hopkirk, claiming some nonsense about casting magic in a muggle (whatever that was) zone and threatening consequences. The second letter was from the same woman admonishing me for casting more magic and charging me twenty Galleons for her owl. The third undelivered owl piqued my interest as it promised a visit from an Arthur Weasley, from something called the M.L.E. The letter went further to detail that he would be arriving about an hour after I received the letter. Judging by how much time had passed since I killed the bird I guessed that I had about twenty minutes before his arrival.

I spent the first fifteen minutes getting my two spells back and spent three minutes finding a good hiding place behind some bushes in the side yard. I didn't have to wait long before I heard four loud cracks. All the cracks were on the road leading to the house, and from my position I could see two human men and two human women wearing robes on the path. They slowly started to approach the house before I stopped them in their tracks at about thirty feet from my position.

"Hold! Which of ye be Weasley! State thine business here!"

The man with reddish hair replied, "I'm Weasley! We're here to investigate a disturbance and to see about the collection of fines!"

As I sat in thought I took the time to study them a bit before their appearance and the Weasly name clicked a memory of the story that Mr. Black told me some months ago. Suddenly realizing where I was and what these wizards in front of me were capable of, I tested, "Tell me of your youngest four children Mr. Weasley!"

"My children? My youngest is a girl named Ginerva, she's eleven and will be starting her first year at Hogwarts in a few weeks. Ronald the next oldest will be in his second year and my twins, Fred and George will be in their fourth year," Arthur replied.

"And thine companions be!"

"Aurors Hestia Jones and Donald Shurnpike, and Auror-Trainee Tonks of the pink hair," Arthur introduced.

"Ms. Tonks? Would that be Nymphandora Tonks?" I questioned.

"Aye! It is, and if you know what's good for you, you'll kindly not repeat that name!" Tonks shouted, "Now are you coming out, or are we going to have to come in and get you!"

"I'll come out after my questions have been answered! Ms. Tonks, do you have a cousin by the name of Sirius Black!"

If anything could be said for their expressions they all went white as the blood drained from their faces. Ms. Tonks stuttered, "Y-ye-yes. He's currently in Azkaban for life. May he rot in hell!"

Ah, another opportunity presents itself, "And if you know what's good for you, you'll kindly not bad mouth my father! Mr. Weasley, I'll pay the fine! And if you are agreeable room and board at your residence until I can get enrolled to start at Hogwarts in a few weeks!"

The looks on their faces was priceless. Weasley shakily answered, "I agree to those terms."

I took a moment to change my shape into that of an eleven year old human boy, before I stuck my head out of the bushes. "Hello, um, you caught me at a sort of a bad time, and um all of my clothes are in the house, so… Could one of you conjure me a blanket?"

Mr. Weasley cranked out an orange blanket and took it to my waiting hand. Wrapping it about myself, I left the safety of my hiding spot, as he got an eyeful of my nakedness. Wearing the blanket like a tight toga, I shuffled up to the group. "What's the amount of the fine?"

Looking into my steel grey eyes, Ms. Tonks answered, "Twenty Galleons for each owl killed and an added one hundred Galleons for the house call."

"OK, Mr. Weasley, could you accompany me while I get my things?"

"Sure, lead the way young man. Come to think of it, what is your name?"

"Oh, sorry, it's Xix Steel. A pleasure to make your acquaintance," I said while extending a hand in greeting.

Shaking my hand, Tonks spoke, "I thought you said that Black was your father?"

"Not literally, but figuratively he could be supplanted into that role. Plus the look on your face was priceless, Nymphy."

"Grr, why you!" she said while whisking her wand up, "Stupefy!"

The red bolt of light that came from the end of her wand hit me square in the chest, then rolled off me as it failed to break though my spell resistance. I retaliated with a raspberry, "Thbbbtttttt!" and turned to head into the house. Getting to the front door, I turned to give an apology to Mr. Weasley, but he wasn't with me. Looking back, he was in a heated discussion with his friends. I shrugged and went inside.

Dropping the blanket in the entryway, I ran down into the basement and retrieved my pack. Grabbing the Bag of Holding type IV that contained my costumes, I hurriedly found a travelers' outfit in my current size. After replacing the bag and putting on the pack, I ran back upstairs, grabbed the blanket off the floor, and exited the house and locked up behind myself. The "Adults" were still arguing so I retrieved the letters with the address to this place on them and put them in a side pocket of my pack. Putting the three dead owls into a pocket for storage, I walked around the perimeter of the house again to check on and pray over the graves.

When I turned from the graves to go with them, I found the person I had heard approaching me. "Mr. Weasley? I'm ready to go now."

He seemed to look past me for a moment at what lay behind me before he said, "Yes, it's time to go."


	4. Introductions

Disclaimer: I do not own D&D, Faerun, or the Harry Potter franchises. I'm just borrowing them.

Chapter 3: Introductions

"Yes, it's time to go."

Hugging the blanket tightly to my chest, and dragging a third of it behind me, I set forth. We started walking down the road with only Ms. Jones walking in tow behind us. Traveling for nearly twenty minutes in silence was broken by Mr. Weasley suddenly asking, "Xix, how do you know Sirius?"

Not really having an answer that was easily explainable coming from an eleven year old boy, I hugged the blanket tighter and said cryptically, "We met in a dream, after, after IT happened."

The nebulous 'IT' hung in the air as from the expression on his face said that he had reached the conclusion that 'IT' had something to do with the five makeshift graves in the back yard. Shortly, we came to a small village consisting of about ten houses and a small pub. More strange contraptions assaulted the eye and the ear as we made our way down the street. At the third house from the other end of the village we turned to walk up its path. Just before we got to the door, it opened to reveal a kindly looking old woman, meeting my escort's gaze, she let us into her home. A quick explanation of Floo powder and its use had me stepping into the hearth and shouting, "The Burrow!"

The ride through the Floo system proved to be just as dizzying as described, but what wasn't described was how it worked. As the ride proceeded I could feel the magic of the system building up a charge around me. My guess as to the cause of this buildup at the time may have been the extra magic required to overcome my spell resistance. Regardless, the landing on the other end was memorable for all parties involved. I came rocketing out the hearth head first; the blanket in my arms immediately billowed out to form a combination cape, parachute, net, and I collided with a large group of children.

The scene that Mr. Weasley landed in was a scene of chaos. Arms, legs, and the occasional head were all tangled up in a large orange amorphous blob. Sighing and glancing at his wife and son Percy standing in the doorway, he canceled the spell on the blanket, or at least that's what he tried to do. What happened in reality was that the blanket shrank down to the size of a large hand towel and remained in my grasp. Taking stock of my surroundings as the elder Weasleys started untangling the 'human' knot, I noticed that the boy beneath me was really hurt by our collision. Quickly I cast an almost silent _cure critical_ on the boy and he perked back into consciousness as we were finally untangled.

"Well, since everyone is present, this is Xix Steel. He'll be staying with us until it's time to head off to Hogwarts. Xix, this is my wife Molly, my sons Percy, Fred, George, and Ron, my daughter Ginny, who will be in your year, and finally this is Harry Potter," Arthur introduced.

After shaking hands with everyone and apologizing again for the landing, I yawned, "Where am I sleeping?"

Arthur got an odd look on his face before he said, "It may be a little cramped but I think you'll get on famously with Fred and George."

Snickering, "Lead the way Gred and Forge!"

Bunking with the twins proved to be terrifying and exciting all at the same time. We did become fast friends. Our terror was felt by all the occupants of the house. The time that I made the Great Harry Potter wet the bed was as childish as it was funny. Living among humanoids for as long as I had had supplied me with plenty of simple prank ideas. Buckets over doorframes, tripwire triggered pillow assault, jumping out of dark corners screaming, and varied other mundane non-magical pranks rounded out my repartee. I got as good as I gave when Harry, Ron, and Ginny teamed up to throw water balloons at us at opportune moments and in one great melee the twins and I came back to the house soaked to the bone. I also quickly learned to not eat or drink anything that passed though the hands of either twin after an incident with Ron and their candies.

The day after I arrived at the Burrow I traveled with Arthur to Hogwarts, via Hogsmeade, to get enrolled in school. The Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress were away on business, so we met with the Ravenclaw head of House, a Mr. Flitwik. Mr. Flitwik was an excitable little old man that Sirius's stories had little information on. Essentially meeting him for the first time, I sat in the chair proffered to me and began to study him. We sat in silence studying each other before he spoke, "Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, would you kindly wait outside so I can begin this young man's interview."

After doing what was asked of them, Mr. Flitwik used his wand to cast two spells at the door, "Alright young man, I've set a locking and silencing charm on the door, so we can get started." Walking to his desk he pulled a contraption out of a drawer and set it carefully on his desk. "This device here will test your magical aptitude to see if you have what it takes to become a wizard. Since, you did not receive a letter in the usual manner in which these things are done; we will have to see using an old-fashioned method. Put your hands here, and here," he said whilst pointing to two upraised spheres.

Doing as instructed, I nervously did as instructed, placing my hands as indicated. He pulled out a wooden poker from the side of the device and used it to press a button that was between the spheres. Nothing happened at first, and just as I was about to ask a question of him, my hands started to tingle. The feeling started progressing up my arms and quickly after over my entire body. "Is it supposed to make me feel tingly?"

"Yes, that means that it's working. Where does the feeling reside?"

"The feeling is all over me and is starting to get irritating. Can I stop now?"

"That's odd. It's supposed to only tingle on a body part. Maybe something's wrong? …"

He never did get to finish that line of thought for at that moment all hell started breaking loose. I felt the sickening feeling of spell discharge as I turned invisible. The tingles turned to pain as more of my prepared spells started discharging in random directions all around the room. Magic Missiles shooting out of my ass canceled the invisibility, Scattergloom shrouded the office in magical darkness, and a cure spell relieved some of the pain before a searing light spell shot out my left shoulder and broke something fragile. All through the chaos, Flitwik was shouting, "Remove your hands! Remove your hands!" Trying to remove my hands from the device was fruitless; they were stuck fast to the contraption. Still in Magical Darkness, I took a chance and transformed into my natural form. Raising my claws and the device along with them into the air, I concentrated whilst taking in a breath, and breathed my acid breath at full strength at my claws and the upper walls and ceiling of the room.

My acid apparently dissolved most of the device, so that when I crashed my claws onto the desk, the remaining pieces fell off scattering everywhere. The partially uncontrolled breath also had the affect of burning holes into Mr. Flitwik's Office door, thereby breaking the charms that he had put in place. Mr. Weasley in the outer office were very surprised when the door melted. Darkness, crashes, screaming and roaring greeted them as they tried to enter the Charms Professor's office.

Using my sharp hearing, I heard them coming into the room. Not wanting to be discovered, I cast another _Scattergloom_ spell and crashed his desk again to cover up the sound of my casting. I changed back into my Xix Steel persona and collapsed into the mostly undamaged chair I had seen earlier. Thirty seconds later when the spell finally ended, the room that greeted everyone's eyes was a disaster zone.

What once had been a neat and somewhat tidy room was now laid waste. The device was in smoldering splinters scattered about one side of the office. Chunks of Flitwik's desk were in different parts of the room. His window had been smashed at some point and more parts of his office escaped to a sixty foot fall. Acid scored walls and paintings lined one section of his wall. Several of his books still on the bookshelves had melted, and puddles of pulped paper were set alight in blue ever-burning fire. Flitwik, was found trembling behind a conjured shield in a mixture of crying and laughter.

After dropping his shield and staring at his office for a moment Flitwik finally spoke, "My boy after a display like that I do believe that some instruction is required! Come with me down to the Headmistress's office and we'll get you signed up! We'd do it here, but my office is having a bad day it seems. Heehaw"

The moving, whispering pictures distracted me on our journey down to the Headmistress's Office. Knocking on the door, Flitwik was surprised when a female voice yelled, 'Come in!' Entering her office, we came upon an older looking woman packing letters into envelopes while a green quill was writing addresses on the sealed letters by itself.

"Mr. Flitwik, Mr. Weasley, and who's this? To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"Minerva, this is Xix Steel. We've just come from his magic aptitude test that he passed, after a fashion, in my office. He wants to start here at Hogwarts this September 1st. Xix, this is Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration Professor and the Deputy Headmistress. Mr. Weasley is here as his chaperone and guide."

"Sudden appearance of magical ability…, hmm," pulling open a drawer she pulled out a blue quill and handed it over to me, "Suck on the end of the quill for a moment until you taste the ink. Then set it atop this unaddressed letter."

I followed her instructions and watched as the quill stood up and began to address the letter to me in blue ink. Only problem was, was that it addressed it to my dragon name followed by my assumed human surname.

Mr. Xixtosovix Steel

The Basement and Caves under

9 Dackencrest Heights

Schichallion

Perthshire

As exciting as it was to find that I owned my very own cave system, having my real name on a school's records was a little unnerving. From the expression on the Professor's face, it looked as if she were dreading saying my difficult name with a passion. "Professor McGonagall, Xix is fine, but if you are that eager to say my name, it is pronounced, Zick's-to-so-vicks. Remember the long o's and the accent on the second 'x' and you'll be fine."

The odd expression on her face intensified for a few moments before fading quickly, "I'll see you on the 1st Mr. Steel, Good day."

With the dismissal Arthur and I headed back to the Burrow before he headed off to work having not said a word to me all day. The next day was the Wednesday that we were all going down to Diagon Alley. I could finally see about the property that I apparently owned and put my treasure into useable currency at this Gringotts bank I had heard so much about.


	5. Diagon Alley and Fortune

Disclaimer: I do not own D&D, Faerun, or the Harry Potter franchises. I'm just borrowing them.

Chapter 4: Diagon Alley and Fortune

Sometimes a routine is just the ticket, and sometimes people think you're bonkers. So when I got up at five in the morning and immediately kneeled beside my bed to pray for two hours every morning, I was harassed for my convictions. A good moral person would turn the other cheek and bear it, but when that person is using that time to receive or change out their spells irritation turns quickly into malice. After the third time the twins had interrupted me during one of these sessions, I retaliated. Nicking some dreamless sleep potion from their mother, I tainted some of their candy. Ok, so there might have been some collateral damage on that when Harry and Ron nicked some of the candy, but Fred and George got theirs. When they finally did awake, all four were glued to the floor on their knees with elbows glued to beds and hands glued together. I prayed quietly in my shared room that morning and every morning thereafter that I stayed at the Weasleys. The four delinquents 'prayed' for release until supper time when I finally found my universal solvent. So it was that I was grateful for this experience because I had to 'pray' for four hours to retrieve all my spells from the previous day's fiasco.

Getting finished at nine caused me to miss breakfast and to miss the opportunity to save Harry from an unpleasant first experience with Floo powder. Oh well, I grabbed the second to last pinch of Floo powder made sure my pack was strapped on securely and rushed after the frantic Weasley Matron. This time through the Floo network I paid more attention to the magic soot swirling around me, hoping to learn how lessen my traveling speed in the future. It was with great surprise when I noticed that I had just passed one of the Weasley twins whilst en' route. Again I came rocketing out of the fireplace; this time crashing up the stairs on the other side of the Leaky Cauldron's dining area. Rolling up to the second floor, I passed a blond haired boy about Harry's and Ron's age and what I assumed to be his Father since he had the same shade of blondish white hair. Landing on something small, boney, and moving threw me off for a bit until I discovered that it was the couple's House Elf.

A moaning House Elf with two broken legs and one broken arm was what I discovered when I stood up. Feeling bad, I started to kneel to help the little elf when Blonde SR. roared, "YOU! YOU'VE CRIPPLED MY HOUSE ELF! I DEMAND RESTITUTION!"

"What would be a fair price for him? I'll buy him from you as is. I'm Xixtosovix Steel and your name is?"

Cooling down quickly into his business face, "My name is Lucius Malfoy and this is my son Draco. A fair price for a crippled servant, hmm, how about ten thousand Galleons?"

"That's a laugh how much can crippled servant accomplish? Two thousand for a worthless elf is more like it."

"Ah, though I can see your point it was you that crippled him. I've lost a very helpful servant, nine thousand."

"True, but what use is he to you now? He cans barley move, let alone clean, four thousand."

"Very true indeed, but I'm still selling a lost resource, seven thousand."

"I'll pay you six thousand and not a Knut more Mr. Malfoy."

"You drive a hard bargain. Very well, six thousand it is," he said with a smirk that told me I'd been swindled.

Smiling to myself, "I'll give you a bonus if you levitate him to the bank for me so that we might conclude this deal."

"Done, shall we go? _Levicorpis_," he cast on the hurt elf.

Passing a frantic set of Weasleys, I gave them a simple, "I'll explain it to you later Mr. Weasley. I'll catch up to you at the bank."

When we arrived at Gringotts I approached a free goblin. These goblins, I learned, looked like a cross between a goblin and a mountain dwarf from my world. Their language I was relieved to find was a highly accented form of the Goblin language I had learned fifteen of my years ago. Speaking to the teller in Goblin, "Sir, I wish to open an account at your bank. I would also like to translate some of my treasure into Galleons today before we settle on the size of my account."

Astonished that a young wizard would attempt to learn the Goblin language, "Certainly young sir, what treasure are you wanting to translate today?"

Pulling a diamond out of my pocket that on my world was worth a thousand gold pieces, I said, "How about we start with this. And if I find later that you've cheated me, you won't live to regret it."

Eyes wide at the size and luster of the gem in front of him, the goblin got his jewel appraising tools out from under the desk. Studying it carefully with his instruments and consulting a table he spoke, "Ten thousand Galleons sir."

"Good, give me six thousand Galleons in a bag now and hold the other four thousand for me for a moment in a private room where we might conclude our other business." I gave him a slip of paper with my name written on it and heaved the prepared bag of gold to Mr. Malfoy.

"Here is your money Lucius. Please perform the ritual of transference so that we may part company."

"Very well," Him raising his right hand and the magic of what he was doing raising mine, "I, Lucius Malfoy do hereby transfer ownership of Dobby to Xixtosovix Steel. Dobby is to serve from henceforth his new master in whatever he commands. So Mote It Be!"

The magic made me reply, "I accept ownership of Dobby, commanding him however I wish. So Mote It Be!"

After the magic had surrounded both of us and Dobby, Lucius asked, "And what about this bonus?"

"An introduction to my benefactor, I'll owl you the location and time that you can meet him. He's very interested in meeting with you, and he might be interested in purchasing some of the rare items that you might possess."

"I'll be awaiting your owl. Come Draco!" He said whilst shrinking the bag of money and swooping out of the bank.

Carefully gathering up Dobby in my arms, I returned to the teller that helped me and again using the Goblin language, "Is that private room ready yet?"

"Yes it is. Snaphang! Please take this customer to conference room 5."

Yet another goblin stepped forth and led me to a room with a round conference table surrounded by five chairs. Gently setting the unconscious elf down on the table, I quickly started to set his bones as Snaphang left the room. Making sure that the door was closed, I had to cast two _Cure Serious_ spells and one _Cure Critical_ spell to fully heal Dobby. So it was, when an old goblin in a three piece suit came into the room, he was greeted by the sight of a very thankful blubbering House Elf hugging a small boy.

Prying the elf from my person, I commanded, "Dobby! You can thank me later; right now I want you to place anything that falls on the floor on the table in front of this chair."

"Dobby is happy to serve, Master!"

Taking this as his cue to speak the suited goblin introduced himself, "Ah, the mysterious young Steel boy has finally made an appearance. My name is Fanglynch, and I have been keeping your family's holdings in trust for the last forty-five years." Setting a thick folder on the table he proceeded, "Mr. Steel, you stand to inherit what is left of a great fortune since the tragic deaths of all your known relatives nearly forty-six years ago. All that is required to proceed is confirmation of your identity. Please place your right hand in the circle on this piece of parchment."

Doing as instructed, I placed my hand in the circle. Feeling pain as something sharp sliced into my hand, I removed my hand quickly, leaving a small amount of blood behind in the circle. The parchment absorbed the blood and started glowing different colors. At first the circle was glowing the same steel color as my hide for a few moments, then it changed into a dark green color streaked with blue lines and highlights before the glow faded out and the parchment returned to a normal with a crest in the place of where the circle was located. Below the crest a list of properties and assets started appearing in green-blue ink.

"Intriguing, young sir," Fanglynch started, "the magic encompassing the Steel holdings has adopted you as its rightful heir. Though I am a bit confused as to how this could have happened, and there is the odd matter of the paper listing your age as forty-five, I see no general problems with the legality of this document. In fact, since this paper lists you as older than the age of majority in Wizarding Britain, you may cast magic at any time that muggles are not present and there are some other documents that need to be signed.

"What other sorts of documents?"

"Well there is the 'Intent to have an Heir' form, and the 'Pureblood Testing Parchment', and the 'Inheritance Tax Document'."

"Let me guess the 'Intent' form has either a time limit or guidelines for suitable wives?"

"Yes, it does. It states that if you are not married, then you must start looking for a wife in the next five years, be a fiancé in the next seven years, and have your first child in the next ten years. If the P.T.P. proves that you are a pureblood, then you get a tax break and an even bigger tax break if you marry a pureblood. Also, if the P.T.P. is passed, then you are waived from paying the Inheritance Tax."

Sighing, "I guess we'll start with the Pureblood test, or are they all blood based?"

"Just the first two, please place some of your blood in these two circles," he said after placing two separate pieces of parchment on the table.

Re-opening the wound from the previous test, I placed three drops of my blood into each circle. Both of the circles began to glow the same steel color as my hide. The 'Intent to have an Heir' form glowed for ten minutes before fading to an inked circle of steel. The P.T.P. form continued to glow for over thirty minutes before Fanglynch said anything.

"I think that it is safe to say that you are a pureblood. The way that test worked was that it was supposed to glow one minute for every ancestor generation that was magical. This is the longest I have ever seen or heard about the glow lasting and it is still going."

"Then all that's left is my account review and a money exchange." Glancing through the proffered estate documents I found no glaring errors. Mostly I owned land, a few castles, and percentages in a few companies that I learned were all Wizarding businesses. The Steel vaults at Gringotts held mostly heirlooms, magical items, and rare books. The dividends earned by my stock went into property upkeep and expenses with a small annual net gain of an average of fifty thousand Galleons per year. Every few years the accumulated money was used to buy more stock or another piece of property. Currently the money vault held just over one hundred ten thousand Galleons.

"All this looks to be in order based on the documentation. I'll want to take a trip down to the money vault today and one of the heirloom vaults as well." Opening up my pack and removing a sealed Bag of Holding type IV, "I'll also want to deposit some of this into my money vault. Some of these bags are to be either placed into my storage vault or into a new dedicated vault."

"What bags? I only see the one."

"Oh, sorry," I undid the drawstring and poured out twenty-five more sealed Bags of Holding type IV's from the original Bag. After searching for a bit, I found the five Bags that were full of gold pieces. "Each of these five bags contains fifteen hundred pounds of gold coins. I want to keep the bags and deposit the gold. I'd also like to have the four thousand Galleons from my earlier transaction placed into a one of these emptied Bags."

As quickly as I could I repacked my haversack whilst Fanglynch arranged for transportation for the three of us and our cargo. Helping Dobby and the Goblins with the loading of the large cart that came to pick us up was looked upon as being eccentric by the Goblins, and Dobby was scandalized that his master was doing mundane manual labor. The cart ride down to the vaults was entertaining. At number four hundred sixty-eight we stopped to empty my sacks of gold, and at number three hundred ninety-six we stopped to enter a goods vault. There I dropped off eighteen of my Bags of holding; keeping seven of them, one filled with spell components.

When I got back up to lobby, the money pouch in my haversack and Dobby sent off to clean my Dracken Crest house, I found a girl that from Sirius's descriptions could only be Hermione standing alone, obviously waiting for someone. The 'Intent to have an Heir' form still fresh in my mind, I introduced myself, "Hello, you wouldn't happen to be Miss Hermione Granger, would you?"

"Yes, that's me. Do I know you?"

"Not yet, my name is Xix Steel. It's always a pleasure to meet beautiful young ladies such as you," I said as I gave a bow and kissed the back of her hand.

"Xix Steel, where have I, oh, you're that kid that was staying at the Weasleys this summer aren't you?"

"You have me pegged. I hope your friends didn't depreciate my character too much in their letters. Getting to know you better might be a lot of fun."

Blushing, Hermione said, "Only something about you gluing them to the floor."

"Yes, but frankly they deserved it after nicking Fred and George's candy. Fred and George, however, raised my ire on something far different."

Seeing her friends coming out of the vault tunnel, she said, "I'll have to speak with them about their omission then. And here they are now."

I turned and sure enough they had returned from their trip. It was amusing to see Harry trying to hide his jangling, black leather bag from the Weasleys. On the steps of Gringotts we all separated. Molly and Ginny were getting robes. Harry and friends went wandering off. I went with Fred, George and a friend of theirs a Lee Jordan to get started on my shopping. Arthur was insisting on taking the Grangers off for a drink.

"We'll all meet at Flourish and Blotts in two hours to buy your schoolbooks," Mrs. Weasley said, taking off with Ginny. "And not one step down Knockturn Alley!" she shouted at our retreating backs.

The twins directed me to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Leaving me to my own devices after giving me directions to the bookstore, they headed off to Zonko's Joke Shop. Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch which was dressed all in puce.

"Hogwart's dear?" she said, when I started to speak. "Got the lot here - a young lady being fitted up just now, in fact."

In the back of the shop, a girl with dirty blonde hair and large blue eyes was standing on a footstool while a second witch was adjusting her hem lines on her dress. Madam Malkin stood me up on a stool next to her, slipped a long robe over my head, and started pinning it to the correct length.

"Hello," I said, "What year are you going to be in?"

"It'll be my first, you?" said the girl.

"It's my first year as well. Are you good at anything?"

"My father says I'm good at making people think."

"A most admiral quality to have in a friend if you'll have me? My friends that have fought with me say that I'm good at strategy."

Extending her hand to me she said, "Luna Lovegood."

Taking her hand with a free one I said, "Xixtosovix Steel. Xix for my friends."

We both finished at about the same time so I asked, "Are you here alone?"

"Yes, my father thought he saw a niggling nekkler in an animal shop so he stopped to investigate. He gave me enough money for my things so I probably won't see him until I get home."

"Would you do me the honor of letting me accompany you then? I'm new to the area and don't know the shops very well."

"What are friends for?" she said smiling and crooking her arm to me.

Taking her arm, I smiled as we set off to get our supplies. Cauldrons, potion ingredients and other miscellaneous supplies were acquired to the stories of the Crumple Horned Snorkack and savage tales of dragon battles in which the dragons won. Finally it came down to the books and our wands. Not wanting the day to end quite yet, I suggested we get our wands first.

"What are the different wand shops around the area, Luna?"

"Well there's Ollivanders, they use phoenix tail feathers, unicorn hairs, and dragon heartstrings for the cores of their wands. Baxter's Wand Shoppe uses powdered mandrake, nymph nectar, and faerie honey as the cores for their wands. There's a really good place to get custom made wands down at the other end of Knockturn Alley if you don't mind what is actually in your wand, or if you want a special spell group specific wand.

"I've heard horror stories about the wands that have come from Ollivanders, so let's see what Baxter's is like."

"Ok, lead the way."

Madam Baxter's Wand Shoppe was cheerful, glittery, and very shiny. A tall beautiful witch with an angular face, slightly pointed ears, and a warming smile greeted us at the counter. "First wands, dears? Excellent! Please step into the back for your measurements."

Taking note of her appearance and sensing something off about her request, I cast a _Detect Magic_ spell while her back was turned. "Well come along dears. I don't have all day," she said turning to face us. Concentrating on her back got me nothing, but when she turned to face us, I saw the strong necromantic glow in her eyes and mouth areas.

"Luna, would you wait here for a moment? I want to talk to this young woman alone about something."

Looking at me dreamily she said, "Ok Xix, you do that."

As soon as we got into the back room she turned on me, the door slammed shut, and she cast a spell at me. Whatever the spell was, I later learned it was a full body bind curse, it washed right over me having no affect. I responded with a _Searing Light_ spell that she tried to duck away from. The ducking motion is probably what caused the spell to hit her in the face.

She started screaming while clutching at her face, "I'll get you for that you bastard! Stupify!"

Again the spell washed over me as I cast a _Magic Missile_ at her.

The next spell she was casting was something called 'Difendo' that missed me by inches and tore up the wall behind me. I responded by casting _Invisibility_ on myself and moving away from where I was standing.

She uncovered her face for a moment, letting me see that she wasn't human. I guessed that she was some sort of Vampire by the altered color of her skin where my spell had hit and by the relatively little amount of damage she appeared to have taken. Taking advantage of the lull in the fighting, I transformed into my more powerful natural form. Lining up a clear shot, I let loose a breath of acid. Catching the creature fully, I destroyed its clothes and its wand exploded taking her left hand with it. A grey naked creature growled as it turned to face me. Not relenting, I cast another _Magic_ _Missile_ at the beast.

That's when she charged me. Attempting to hit me with her good arm and bite me with her extended canines. She caused me no damage both times. So, it was that she was at point blank range with her mouth open when I breathed acid again. This time a good portion of my acid went down her throat and she immediately keeled over and went into _Gaseous_ form.

Following the gas through a trapdoor and through a long tunnel I found her coffin and her treasure. Made of a rich mahogany, it was almost a shame when I crushed her coffin. I grabbed up a splinter and staked her through the heart slaying her instantly.

Casting another _Detect Magic_ spell, I carefully wrapped up all of the magic items for later identification. When I was about to leave, I cast a _Detect Secret Doors_ spell and found a secret room that held a small library of books and objects that I placed in one of my Bags of Holding. I placed her corpse into one of my Bags for later disposal before heading back to the back room. I bagged up all of the undestroyed wands before transforming back to my Xix Persona and heading out to Luna.

When I got to her, she was acting normally again, and she asked, "Did you find a wand that liked you?"

"No, and the shopkeeper isn't feeling very well so we'll have to go someplace else. How about we try that custom shop in Knockturn Alley? Is there a way to get there that doesn't travel through so much of Knockturn Alley?"

"Well, we could take Lumpas Lane to Trocnoer Trail to the other end of Knockturn Alley."

"Sounds good, let's go. The sooner we start, the sooner we'll get there."

Slowly traveling on foot and window shopping we arrived three hours after we started at Al's Custom Wands and Emporium, since 1737 A.D.

Entering the muted lighting in the Emporium we met an old wizard named Al the fifth. Al was an interesting man to say the least. An avid fan of a magazine called the Quibbler that I had learned earlier was what Luna's father was the head editor of, gave us an earful on what he thought about the latest issues. Luna was in her element, also being an avid reader of her father's magazine, she had a lot of insight into the background of many of the articles published.

The staggering base price of one hundred Galleons for magically attuned wands threw me at first, because most of the wands that I had looted from Baxter had a marked price no higher than twenty Galleons. When I asked Al about the discrepancy in wand prices, he explained that the wands that you find in those sorts of places are just slapped together and the wand maker hopes that one day the wand will choose a wizard or witch to be its master. What he did was to attune the wand to the buyer's magical signature in the making process so that the wand produced would channel the wizard or witch's magic better, thereby increasing the ease at which their magical power flowed. This explanation started a long three way discussion on the cost/profit strategies of a custom maker of wands versus a mass producer.

Doling out two hundred Galleons, I made the down payment for both of our wands while Luna and Al continued to talk about something called a Heleopath. Insisting that Luna go first, I watched as Al led her through the process. She chose a sheath of a variety of magical birch, an emulsifier made from the blood of a Mooncalf drawn at the height of the full Moon, and a core of Meteorite dust from the Mountains of Sweden. A special device in the back of his shop handled and put together all of the ingredients into a wand ten and on quarter inches long. When she touched her wand it began to glow silvery white, and when she flicked it, it sang of power. Luna paid Al an additional five hundred Galleons for the finished Wand.

My turn then came. I went through all of Al's wooden sheaths without finding a match. "Interesting, that rarely happens. I guess we'll have to see about my metal stocks," Al said excitedly in a way that screamed, "Cha-Ching!" In the Metals section, I hesitated briefly over Iron and Tin, but I went on. I was surprised to see Platinum, Gold, Mithral, Adamantine, and Cold Iron among his stock of metals. For a moment I thought that the Osmium was calling to me, but in pointing it out, I brushed across the Cold Osmium sample and it literally created a loud note of magical music when I touched it.

"That's the one lad. Metals are a bit different in that you have to hold on to them while picking out your emulsifier and core," Al instructed. The emulsifier that I found also wasn't in his main racks. A mixture of ten percent Deepspawn Blood, forty percent Blackspawn Birther blood, and fifty percent Alchemical Mercury had both Luna and Al looking at me with large round eyes.

Ignoring their stares, I moved on to his wand cores section. Yet again I didn't find anything in his regular core section. Dreading the cost of asking for rare ingredients, I started to ask for them, but Al had already opened up his cabinet of rare cores for me. I finally settled on what was labeled as Core wood willingly given from an Elder Treant.

When I picked up the core for my wand, I heard two loud thuds from the other side of the room. The two loud noises drew the attention of Al the fourth, an even older man, and Al the third, a very old woman, into the shop from the upstairs apartment. Taking in the scene of Al the fifth and a young girl unconscious on the floor and a young lad holding three wand ingredients in his hands, they walked over with wands drawn on me. "What have you done young man?" the old woman screamed at me.

"Nothing, they feinted, I think. Can one of you put these together for me please?"

Al the fourth took one look at the ingredients and feinted dead away. Al the third's eyesight wasn't that good, so she led me over to the device that put metal wands together. I put the ingredients where she pointed that they went and I turned on the device. Apparently metal wands make a lot of noise when they are being manufactured because the cacophony of noise that came from the process was very, very loud and very beautiful.

Gingerly picking up my nine inch wand, I was rewarded with a soft humming noise. After giving it an experimental flick I was surrounded in a white glow that faded with the humming to nothingness.

Placing the wand on the desk next to their cash register along with the labeled vials in which the ingredients came. Al the third got her reading glasses out and started to add up the damage. "Let's see, nine inches of Cold Osmium, that's nine thousand Galleons. Emulsifier, that's an odd mix, an added twenty thousand Galleons. And finally the Core, huh, I didn't know we still had that, another seventy thousand Galleons. The total comes to ninety-nine thousand Galleons. One of the most expensive and magically powerful wands we've ever made."

"Err; I only have about three thousand Galleons on me. Do, you accept goods in lieu of money?"

"What have you got? My grandson has better eyesight. Could you please wake him up?"

"Sure," lightly kicking his arm woke him up after about three minutes.

"Al, this young lad wants to offer trade goods in lieu of part or all of payment."

"Oh, let's see what you have then."

"First, since you deal in exotic ingredients, you might be interested in this," I said as I pulled the battered, staked vampire from where I stashed it earlier.

"Hmm, a Day Walking Personality Vampire, very rare indeed, where did the stake come from?"

"Its coffin, it was a rather nice mahogany coffin that was almost a shame to smash."

"And about how long has it been staked?"

"I staked it about three hours before I first arrived at your shop, though time has no meaning in those bags, so about an half an hour has passed for the body."

"Very fresh, wake up my father so we can harvest it."

Doing so, they began harvesting in earnest. When they were finished Al gave me a thirty-five thousand Galleon credit bringing my balance down to sixty-four thousand Galleons. Still not wanting to pay that much money for my wand, I started emptying the Bag that contained the looted wands. The wands netted me another twenty thousand Galleons which brought my balance to forty-four thousand. The wand making materials I had grabbed added to all the gold I had looted bought my balance down to twenty-three hundred Galleons of which I used my own money to settle the account.

By the time we had finished with my account it was nine o'clock p.m. The store had long since closed and locked its doors for the night, so the Al the fifth offered to put us up for the night, free of charge. After waking Luna up from dreamland, we talked into the wee hours of the night with the three Al's. By the time morning came, we were all friends and I had gained a reliable place in which to sell any unusual items or dead creatures.

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Author's Note: A special thanks to **Olaf74** for reviewing all my works to date. If your stories were translated into English I'd give them a shot. Unfortunately when I attempted to learn German, I was never able to retain enough to become fluent in the language.


	6. Getting Ready

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Dungeons and Dragons, or the Faerûn Campaign setting. The Steel Dragon is detailed on pages 140-142 of Dragons of Faerûn, by Eric L. Boyd and Eytan Bernstein, c. August 2006.

Chapter 5: Getting Ready

Luna and I got a late start out of Al's store the next morning. I had to spend an hour praying and a half hour meditating to get my spells back from the previous day's events. Luna spent more time talking to Al the fifth and helping out around the store as I freshened up afterwards. Right before we left, I found a book on the dragons of this world and I spent almost my last Galleon on it.

Following Mrs. Weasley's advice, we took the long way around back to Diagon Alley. On Trocnor Trail and Lumpas Lane we took note of several shops that stroked our fancy. I had to stop in at Gringotts to get more money because my purchases had depleted my funds. While in there, I met Fanglynch, and asked about the purity status of the Lovegood family. He told me that, yes, they were purebloods back at least nine generations. He also mentioned that his youngest daughter had attached herself to my 'Pureblood Testing Parchment' as a second nightlight. As far as he knew, it was still glowing.

After withdrawing five thousand Galleons, I asked, "Fanglynch, what was the next purchase to be on the Steel Account?"

"Mr. Steel, I believe that the next purchase was to be a large piece of land. I don't have the specifics with me, but I believe that it was near an old Muggle copper mine in a place called Alaska. The property was to be a part of either a mining exploration contract, or a timber harvesting contract. With your added gold the parcel could be bought and paid for with seventy thousand Galleons to spare. Do you still wish for it to be purchased?"

"How much money would this purchase generate?"

"The mining contract would immediately add about five thousand Galleons to your account, more if they found anything. The timber harvesting contract is where the most money will be generated. Net income from timber is expected to be in the neighborhood of twenty thousand Galleons per year since part of the contract is Muggle and part is Magical for the wand woods that grow in that climate."

"So, that would take something like eight years to pay for it, and two point three years to get back to where I am now? Hmm… go ahead and purchase the property now. For the next purchase look for properties that have cave systems included and could still turn a profit by doing something on the surface."

"I'll get right on that, Mr. Steel, and I'll have the appropriate paperwork ready for you to sign before you go to Hogwarts," Fanglynch replied.

Returning to the lobby, I rejoined Luna, and accompanied her to Flourish and Blotts. Whilst there we purchased our schoolbooks and learned of the incident the previous day with Mr. Lockhart. Remembering the Boob that was Lockhart, I insisted that we each purchase as many of the previous years' Defense Against the Dark Arts books as possible. We each got a copy of _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_ by Quentin Trimble from last year's class. And a copy of _The Grey Arts: Semi-Legal Spells and Rites_ by Stanley Franch, from five years ago was also purchased.

Before we left Diagon Alley, I purchased two, five kilogram cans of Floo powder from the Apothecary and put them in my pack. When Luna asked about the purchase, I simply said that I owed an apology to the Weasleys and I knew that they were out so I was getting them some as a peace offering. After that statement, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when Luna shouted, "The Burrow!" when she went into the hearth ahead of me at the Leaky Cauldron. Immediately stepping into the hearth, I threw my pinch of Floo powder in and shouted, "The Burrow!"

I was really starting to detest Floo travel as the magic of the system again reacted badly with my innate magic and sped me up. I passed Luna without incident and was pleasantly surprised when I emerged from the Weasley's hearth and didn't collide with anyone. I did, however, crash through two chairs, five glass objects, and one wall. The wall might not have been so bad except that the room I landed in was occupied by a very naked Hermione Granger engaged in taking a shower in what used to be a four walled bathroom.

"EEEEEEKKKKKKK!"

I didn't know if I'd ever be able to hear again after a scream like that, though the view was rather pleasant. I just groaned, "Sorry, Floo accident."

Then of course Luna arrived and added, "Hello, I'm Luna. You might want to cover-up before the stampede gets here."

Hearing the house rumbling with the sound of approaching Weasleys, Hermione quickly grabbed a towel and did as suggested. "I'll say one thing of you, Xix; you certainly know how to make an entrance!" Hermione huffed.

It wasn't too long before the Weasleys arrived en-mass. Taking in the scene of destruction through the living room, an almost naked girl, and Luna Lovegood, the Weasleys were a mix of laughter, shock, and awe. Taking charge of the situation, Mr. Weasley rounded up all of the boys except for me and took them outside. Mrs. Weasley with Luna and Ginny's help attended to my cuts and bruises before shoving me out of the bathroom.

I listened at the door for a moment before Molly put up a silencing ward at Luna's bequest. Thinking that Luna wanted to talk to them in private, I headed out to where the others were. I emerged onto a very odd scene. Fred, George, and Percy were behind all out de-gnoming the garden and talking civilly to each other. Mr. Weasley was talking to a much blushed duo of Ron and Harry. As I got closer, I could tell that they were receiving 'the Talk' for what appeared to be the first time.

I waited for Arthur to finish before I spoke, "Mr. Weasley, I'm sorry for not showing up the other day and for my entrance this evening."

"Xix, you had us very worried about you. Don't let there be a next time, send us a note or a message if you're going to miss a meeting. Ron, Harry, please go help the others de-gnome the garden," Arthur waited a bit before continuing, "Xix, we received a fire-call from Al the third last night telling us where you were. If not for that you would be in far more trouble than you already are.

"She was concerned about you because the wand that was made for you is very powerful. As your temporary guardians, we had the right to know about just such a wand. She normally doesn't mention her business dealings to other people, but she also mentioned that you paid for your wand with the body of a vampire that you claimed to have staked yourself. Is this true?"

Sighing, I resigned, "Yes, I staked a Day walking Personality Vampire yesterday. And yes, I used her body to help pay for a custom made wand. I'm surprised, though; those tasty owls didn't come for me afterwards, since I used magic to kill her."

"Kill Her? Xix, who was She?"

"She was Madam Baxter, or what was represented as her when Luna and I went into Baxter's Wand Shoppe to look for wands."

"You! You're claiming responsibility for the killing reported in today's _Prophet_! Xix, I was called in for backup on that yesterday. There's no possible way… Flitwick's office," Arthur trailed off.

"After she took me into her back room, she cast a spell at me then my magic went crazy much like it did in Flitwick's office. She then turned Gaseous; I followed her down to her coffin and made sure she stayed dead for the foreseeable future. I didn't have anything on me that could destroy the body, so I took it and most of her stuff with me. She didn't need it anymore, and it turned out that I would need most of her stuff in a few hours."

Gaping for a moment, Arthur spoke, "Are you alright then?"

"I'm fine. How are you?"

"A bit tired. I think I'll go lay down…" he said before wandering off toward the house.

I apologized to all of the Weasleys for my discretions, presenting Mrs. Weasley with my gift of ten kilograms (about twenty pounds) of Floo powder. Of course, Luna's explanations of the time spent in her company helped soften Mrs. Weasley up. September the first approached quickly among days spent playing with my new friends.

On the thirtieth of August, I took a quick trip to Diagon Alley and Gringotts to sign the contracts for my new land purchase. I picked up a multi-compartment trunk to better fit in with other students, and I also stopped back in to Flourish and Blotts to get some books on animangus transformations, occulmency, ancient runes, and arithimancy. Before I left the Leaky Cauldron I called, "Dobby!"

Fading in from nowhere, Dobby replied, "Master called for Dobby?"

"Yes, Dobby how is the cleaning coming along?"

"Master, Dobby is working very hard. Dobby has most of the house cleaned. Dobby is mostly cleaning up dust, Master."

"Good, Dobby?"

"Yes Master?"

"Can you take me to my house magically?"

"Master, it has been a long time since Dobby asked to do that. Dobby must tell master that it be uncomfortable."

"Dobby, let's try it, and see how it goes."

"Master, take Dobby's hand."

I took Dobby's hand and in the blink of an eye we were standing in front of my house at Drakencrest Heights. I felt a tingling sensation over my skin that quickly went away and that was it. "That was pleasant compared to Floo powder, thank you."

"Dobby no understands. Master should be in lots of pain. House Elf travel is usually painful for masters."

I had decided to take Dobby into my confidence since House Elves were sworn to protect their Master's secrets, so I replied, "Dobby? You're supposed to keep my secrets, correct?"

"Yes Master! Dobby dies before telling Master's secrets!"

"Good, then what I'm about to show and tell you is something that you need to know, but must be kept secret from anyone not in my family. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Dobby understands."

"Dobby, brace yourself and remember that I will not hurt you," I replied before changing into my natural form. Dobby immediately cowered but stayed put as I began to speak again, "Dobby, this is my true form. I'm a dragon from another world. Remember that I will not hurt you. Do you have any questions of me?"

Trembling, Dobby said, "So, Master is not human? Then why is master pretending?"

"Dobby, I know about the plot against Harry Potter by your former Master. I'm pretending to help Harry as a friend should he need it. There is another Wizard that Harry will need that I can help Harry find."

"Master knows. Dobby must prevent Harry Potter from going back to Hogwarts. It's not safe there for him this year."

"Should you fail, I'll be there to help. Dobby, when you close the Entrance to platform nine and three-quarters on the first of September, do it after I go through. I want to ride the train to Hogwarts for my first year there," I said as I changed back into my Xix persona.

"Dobby does as Master commands."

"Good, then let's see what progress you've made."

After taking a slow walk through the house and congratulating Dobby on his progress, I informed him that I would be spending at least part of my winter holidays here at the house. It was a very happy elf that took me back to the Leaky Cauldron later that afternoon. Flooing back to the Weasley's, I landed in the net made especially for my landings.

I woke up extra early on the morning we were to leave and was ready to go by dawn. I had skipped over my routine praying this morning since I only really needed to do it when I was getting spells back. After I made sure that I had my wand and all of my books and supplies in my pack, I loaded my pack into my new trunk and loaded my trunk into the boot of Mr. Weasley's Ford Anglia. I helped Fred and George get ready after that. I made sure they had everything packed before putting it in the 'car'. Taking them back up to their room to do a once-over, Fred noticed that he had forgotten his box of Filibuster fireworks and his broomstick.

Soon we were on our way and back again as Ginny forgot her diary. We arrived at King's Cross Station with ten minutes to spare because of a small traffic jam that held us up. Percy went through the entrance first, followed by Fred, George, Ginny, Arthur, and Molly. When I went through the Entrance third to last, I felt for a moment a similar sensation as when I travel by Floo powder. I started at a bit of a fast walk and emerged at a fast run. Skidding to a stop, I turned to see Molly and Arthur helping Ginny get her trunk onto the train with Percy's help. Fred and George were off with their friend Lee, and Harry and Ron were nowhere to be seen as expected.

I easily picked up my trunk and had it quickly loaded into an empty compartment. For a few minutes I wondered why the compartment was empty until a youngish looking witch came into the compartment. I guessed she was in her late twenties or early thirties before she introduced herself as Professor Vector. She was there to run the Prefect's and Head's pre-school meeting.

I was free to stay and watch, but she preferred that I go find a compartment with someone closer to my own age. I chuckled to myself at the irony of her assumptions and gathered my stuff up for the great wife hunt. In the last train car I found a compartment occupied by Luna reading the Quibbler, Hermione reading a huge tome, and Ginny talking to two boys introduced as Neville Longbottom and Dean Thomas.

After stowing my stuff overhead, I sat quietly listening for a few moments before drifting off to sleep. Awoken by the woman with the food trolley, I bought an assortment of everything. It was getting close to my monthly hunting trip and I hoped that I could put it off for a few days if I gorged myself on food. Sharing the mountain of treats proved to be wise because the others in the compartment taught me the ins and outs of eating Wizard Candy.

As sunset approached we all went took turns within the compartment to change into our school robes. I made sure that when I put my robes on, I pocketed my wand. And I checked again that I still had my wand when I got off the train. A large man was calling out for the first years to follow him. One hand on my wand at all times as we crossed over the lake in very small boats; I was very thankful that we made it to the castle after passing a kraken.

Professor McGonagall was just about to start leading us into the Great Hall when the Ford Anglia passed by the castle and crashed into the Whomping Willow. In the Entrance Hall we could hear many more crashes and thuds for a few seconds before the loud noises ceased. Smiling inwardly to myself, I followed the rest of the first years through the Great Hall to stand before the Sorting Hat, and saw whom must be Professor Snape leave towards the Grounds.

The Sorting started up fairly normally from what Sirius told me about his time here. The hat sang its introduction song and the first student called up, a girl, went into Hufflepuff House. Many students didn't last for more than a few minutes. Luna's sorting took about five minutes before she was sorted into Ravenclaw. The 'S' names came and went, but I was still unsorted. Sam Verdi went into Gryffindor; William Wiltshire went into Slytherin; finally the last one left, I was called, Xixtosovix Steel!

Sitting on the stool and putting on the hat was the easy part, the actual sorting proved to be very hard. I could feel the hat trying to get into my mind through some sort of magical process because my hair stood up on end and my skin started to turn varying shades of colors. As I sat there and became the wizard of a different color, the staff behind me and the students waiting for me to finish started gasping and whispering amongst themselves. Things were starting to get ridiculous after twenty minutes when the polka dots started. Forty minutes into my sorting I went plaid. Sixty minutes rolled around and as I was starting to go plaid with polka dots, the Headmaster got up and walked around to stand next to me.

"Mr. Steel," the Headmaster whispered into my ear, "are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Headmaster. This might take a while. You might want to go ahead and start the feast. Only could you show me to the Kitchens when I'm done?"

"I'm afraid that we can't start until everyone is sorted," the Headmaster informed me. "Do you know what's wrong?"

"I believe that you'd have to ask the Sorting Hat that, Sir," I said before turning a bright puce background color to the yellow daisies on my body. I looked at my hands, "Though I wouldn't be surprised if I have some sort of magical allergy to your sorting hat. Out of curiosity, Professor, what's the record for the longest time to be sorted?"

"I believe that the longest sorting on record was approximately two hours and forty-seven minutes long. That was for a girl something like three hundred years ago. To my recollection, this is the first time that someone has changed colors like this."

Upon passing the three hour mark, children were falling asleep at their tables and my skin was such a kaleidoscope of colors that it was painful to look at for any length of time. I myself was still wide awake when after four hours the Sorting Hat started to get through my spell resistance. I was catching a word here and there for another two hours before the hat started to make a little sense. Simple phrases turned into simple sentences after seven hours and after eight hours a full connection had been made. The Hat commenting on how old I was and what I was took another hour to actually sort me. Most of that hour was spent arguing with the thing about me not wanting to be put into Slytherin, so finally at the nine hour mark exactly, the hat shouted, "RAVENCLAW!"


	7. The Nightmare of Filius Flitwick

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Dungeons and Dragons, or the Faerûn Campaign setting. The Steel Dragon is detailed on pages 140-142 of Dragons of Faerûn, by Eric L. Boyd and Eytan Bernstein, c. August 2006.

Chapter 6: The Nightmare of Filius Flitwick

"RAVENCLAW!"

The shout of the sorting hat woke most everyone up that was not awake already at seven in the morning. My skin was a cacophony of hues that as I quickly noticed, it was painful to even glance at me. Cursing the hat as I placed it back on its stool, I made my way over to the Ravenclaw table. I sat down amongst people that were actively not looking at me so I used my alternate form capabilities to start putting my skin back to a human color.

The Headmaster glanced at his watch before standing, "I have a few start of term announcements for all of you. As the name implies the Forbidden Forrest is forbidden to entry for all students. Mr. Filch has the list of banned items attached to his office door. We've all just had the pleasure to go through the longest sorting in Hogwarts history, so classes this mourning will be rescheduled for a later date. Now, with these final words let the Feast begin. Natick, Fob, Tweet!"

It's not a good idea to starve a feeding dragon as my tablemates soon discovered. When the feast appeared, I quickly cast a _Detect Poison_, and getting nothing, I dived into the food. The large bird in front of me, probably a large chicken, disappeared in a fury of flying meat and bones. Rolls, casseroles, puddings, cakes, and pies; nothing survived the onslaught once my hands touched it. My table manners were non-existent for the two hours we were allowed to eat.

At about nine thirty we were all escorted to our Common rooms for a small nap and to gather our things for our afternoon classes. I was in dreamland the moment I sat down on my four poster bed. I awoke to a violent shaking as a few older boys walked around waking us up. One handed me, my schedule and said that I had an hour to get ready and get to class.

I quickly did a once through the bathing facilities. Used some time to lessen the skin colors; I had gotten rid of most of the blues, reds, and greens. I grabbed up the books required for my first class, Transfiguration, and made sure I had my wand and clothes on me before I ran after my classmates to find our classroom.

Making it down to the class with little incident, I sat myself next to Luna in the front row. Professor McGonagall glanced at me for a moment before averting her eyes. Apparently, I was still an eyesore.

When everyone was seated she began, "OK, today class we'll be transfiguring matchsticks into needles." What followed was the theory and wand movements and incantation necessary for the spell to work. She passed out matchsticks to everyone and told us to begin the practical exercise.

I pulled out my wand and experimented with the wand movements for a bit before attempting the spell. Doing as instructed, I said the incantation as I did the wand movement and tapped my matchstick. There was a bright flash of light that got the Professor's attention and my matchstick was now a bright shiny needle. A bright shiny needle that stood up and started hoping about the desk.

"Mr. Steel!" Professor McGonagall shouted, "Just what are you doing?"

"I thought I did it right for a moment, but then my needle started hopping. May I have another matchstick so I can try again?"

She gave me another matchstick and forced herself to watch me as I did it again. Upon my casting of the spell my matchstick turned into a needle like it was supposed to, but again it animated and joined my other attempt in a dance.

"That's odd," McGonagall murmured, "I didn't see anything wrong with that spell. Except, Mr. Steel, may I see your wand?"

Placing my wand carefully on the desk, "Certainly, Professor."

She went to lightly pick up my wand to examine it when she discovered that for a nine inch wand it was really heavy. Hefting the twenty-seven pounds of wand wasn't as easy for her as it was for me. I could see her struggling with it before she put it back onto the desk. "Mr. Steel, what is that wand made of?"

Not wanting the rest of the class to overhear, I wrote her a note and handed it to her. She read over the ingredients once and her eyes got very large before she carefully read over them again and promptly feinted. I snagged up my wand ingredients before anyone else could see them, shared a meaningful glance with Luna, and let the professor have some air. In a few minutes she was awake and had given me and my house a hundred points, assigned homework, and asked that I stay after class for a discussion.

When the last of the students had filed out, she began, "Mr. Steel, I'm not going to question how you came into possession of a metal wand. You must realize in your learning here that most Professors will be teaching students how to use wooden wands. Metal wands sometimes have a different wand movement to perform the same spell as a wooden wand. The materials in your wand make for a high transfiguration aptitude and for a high transmogrification aptitude. I'm going to give you a note for Madam Pince, the Librarian, to have access to the restricted section and to check out extra books. You're to look up wand movements for metal wands and look for books on transmogrification. I'd like an essay on the differences of wand movements and the dangers in using movements for wooden wands handed in to Professor Flitwick by the end of next week. Next lesson we'll be covering the transfiguration of forks into spoons and vice versa, so be prepared.

"This second note is for Professor Snape. You will be quite late to potions after this talk unless you hurry."

Grabbing the notes provided, I ran out of the classroom and down the halls to the dungeons. Arriving only mildly late, about five minutes, I only missed Professor Snape's introduction. Handing him my excuse, I made my way to a rear seat after receiving a sneer and a, 'don't let it happen again'.

I ended up sitting next to a red haired Hufflepuff girl named Nancy McNeil. She was from a magical family, so she knew the basics of potion making and helped me get set up to brew today's potion. She couldn't read the instructions too well off the board from our seats, so I in return helped her copy down the, to me, clearly visible instructions.

Potions went fairly well. Both Nancy and I turned in perfectly made potions. Professor Snape even gave Nancy five points for her potion. Nancy couldn't look at me for vary long, so we parted ways when class was over, and went down to dinner separately.

Eating a quick snack for dinner, I made my way to the library as soon as I was finished. Madam Pince proved to be a very strict woman. This being my first time to the library, she gave me a pamphlet on all the rules and sent me on my way to look up sources for my assignments.

My regular homework took me two hours and the rest of my time I spent looking for books. I found a small section in the back of the library that was dedicated to metal wand work. From the thick layer of dust, I realized that this section had not been used in quite some time. I found the equivalent books for my current course load and added them to the cart I was using to carry the books I was going to check out. One particularly dusty book caught my eye when I was clearing away the dust from the book spines. The book, Transmogrification Resulting from Faulty Teaching through the Ages, caught my interest enough that I opened the book and began to read.

Transmogrification, I learned, was a branch of transfiguration. Transmogrification was the art of transforming objects into animated objects and animals into new animals. Study of transmogrification was strictly monitored by the Ministry of Magic because for the normal wooden wand it could be very dangerous for the caster and those around the caster. Wooden wands tended to produce creatures and objects that turned violent against the caster or those around them when the spells were miscast. The most notable examples include such objects as Dancing Shoes, The Candlestick of Canterbury, the American Jackolope, and the Singing Nose of Mr. Nod.

The book went on to describe the use of metal wands in transmogrification spell work. Metal wands have a natural affinity for transmogrification. The spell work is easier and the results are more fantastical. The only known transmogrification works to become intelligent have come from the spells of metal wand wielders. One of the dangers, in fact, with metal wands is their tendency to perform transmogrifications when casting using wooden wand movements for transfiguration spells. The tendency even at times manifests in charm work. A prime example being the often theorized origin of the flying horse because the Windgardium Leviosa spell has a tendency to manifest as the object or animal gaining wings and flying instead of floating.

The book went on to describe the wand movements of wooden wands and the transmogrification dangers associated with each movement. I spent much of the night reading up on wand movements and their dangers. After attempting the casting of a spell called Tersempia that was supposed to animate furniture, I headed up to bed. Leaving the animated pillows and chair in the common room was probably a mistake, but I was really tired and I had skipped the section on canceling spells in my excitement at casting real wizard spells. Besides, other than cuddling me, they weren't doing anything harmful.

Later that morning I awoke to screaming. My hearing was better than most of the students since I was one of the few that got up to see what the matter was. Once the heavy dorm door was opened my dorm mates got up as the pitch became more pronounced. The scene that greeted my eyes would have been very comical if I had not had some 'small' part in it. A third year, Cho Chang, was seated in my animated chair. The chair apparently took an opportunity to play because it was galloping around the common room and jumping over non-animated furniture. The pillows were engaged in a fierce pillow war with several girls dressed in revealing pajamas. Boys, roused by the commotion were transfixed by the spectacle of so much naked female flesh. Girls, roused by the commotion, grabbed their own pillows and joined in the bedlam. The added might of so many girls into the fray was quickly ending the war in their favor. The boys didn't want the fight to end quickly, so they starting rooting for the pillows to win. Rallying to the cause and receiving fresh reinforcements from my dorm mates' pillows that I had just cast Tersempia on, the pillows started to turn the tide back into a stalemate.

The scene that Professor Flitwick ran into was one of pure chaos. He took one look and ran back out the portrait hole for reinforcements. Returning a few moments later with Professors Sprout and McGonagall and Fred and George Weasley, Flitwick had to scream to be understood over the noise, "Weasley! Turn the pillows off!"

One of the twins protested in a mix of laughter and drooling, "But we didn't do this!"

"A likely story! Ha! You're usually responsible for these things! Cancel the Spell anyway!" Flitwick shouted.

Taking an obvious sigh in resignation the twins raised their wands and cast a powerful combined wave canceling spell. The spell worked wonders. My animated furniture immediately lost all signs of life. Pillows dropped, the chair tumbled to a stop in mid leap, Cho got thrown into a mass of pillows and female flesh, and the magical pajamas of many of the older girls disappeared. A fifth year aspiring journalist, Michael Skeeter, got a lot of racy pictures of the event from the beginning till the end when he ran out of film. Several of the really introverted boys passed out from the excitement and the others turned interesting shades of red, none more noticeable than the deep red of the twins.

The screeching, screaming force of nature became painful as the girls realized their state of dress, or lack thereof. A large mass of jiggling fem-flesh made its way up to the girl dorms in a couple of minutes. Most of the boys were still transfixed by the sight, but I had my eyes locked on Professor McGonagall's face. She was staring right at me with a calculating expression on her face when Professor Flitwick spoke, "Well Minerva, what punishment are they going to get for this?"

Brought out of her musings, she responded, "Nothing except for a detention, Filius. They should have used less powerful canceling spells before they tried that one."

"That's it? What about causing this mess in the first place?!"

"Oh, they had no hand in that, Filius. Isn't that right, Mr. Steel!" she called up to me.

Cringing, I walked down the stairs to the congregation of authority and apologized, "Sorry Professor. I don't know what initiated the conflict this morning, but it was I that animated the pillows and chair. They were really gentle with me last night, so I didn't see the harm in leaving them as they were."

"Gentle? Gentle! What spell did you use?!" Professor Flitwick shouted.

"This one," waving my wand in a flowing wave motion I cast, "Tersempia!" on a nearby common room pillow. The pillow upon animation floated up into the air and gave me a cuddling hug. "See, it's as gentle as a kitten."

"Mr. Steel, I've never seen a first year ever do that spell correctly before now. Where did you learn how to do that?" Professor McGonagall commented.

"It was in a book called, Transmogrification Resulting from Faulty Teaching through the Ages, which I found in the metal wand section of the library. I'm learning loads about what wand different wand movements can do when performed by the wrong material base. For example, Professor, I learned that swishes are comparable to waves and flicks are comparable to slices and stabs."

"What are you talking about Mr. Steel?" Flitwick questioned.

"Well as Professor McGonagall and the Weasley's already know, my wand has a metal sheath instead of a normal wooden one."

"But, that would mean… oh Merlin!" Professor Flitwick squeaked before passing out.

Coming out of their rooms, the girls were greeted with the sight of the Weasley twins and me with wands drawn standing over a prone, unconscious Professor Flitwick. The added might of another of those accursed floating pillows only seemed to add to their fury as dozens of screamed 'Stupefy' spells and a few shouts of 'Petrificous Totalus' were cast our way.

Both Professors Sprout and McGonagall cast a 'Protegio' spell around themselves and a Weasley twin apiece. I was left to fend for myself. The animated Pillow took several hits from red spells and flew up to attack the people responsible for casting them. I was hit with dozens of spells that all rolled off of my skin. When the spells had all dissipated I spoke, "Woo, tingly," and I called my pillow back to my side.

Gaping students and Professors was the only response to my comment. I waved my hands in front of the Professors' faces and got no reaction. Animating a loveseat, I placed Professor Flitwick in the seat, and left the common room with loveseat in tow for the infirmary.

I had to stop several times to ask the Paintings for directions to the Hospital Wing, but eventually I arrived to the startled gasp of Madam Pomfrey. She immediately bustled us both over to beds and had us both lay down despite my protests.

She proved to be a very formidable woman as she commented, "I'll have none of your complaining young man. Why they didn't have you come down here immediately after the Sorting is beyond me, but now that you're here we'll have your skin sorted to rights shortly. Now, what happened to your Head of House?"

"I think he feinted."

"Feinted, that's odd," she commented before performing what she described as a few diagnostic spells over him. "It seems you were right young man. Because of his levels of fatigue, I think I'll just let him sleep that off. Now to you, what do you think happened to you to cause the coloration?"

"I think that we need a private warded room for that."

She looked queerly at me before gesturing to a back room, "This way."

After she had closed the door behind her and the ward seals had activated, I asked, "Madam Pomfrey? Is it true that healers take an oath not to reveal the medical secrets of their patients?"

"Yes, that's true, insofar as the secrets are not harmful or potentially harmful to others."

"Oh," thinking fast I decided to reveal a part of what I could do to the matron, "well, I don't know where to start."

Sighing, "The beginning usually works best in these things."

"Well, ever since I could remember I've been able to do something special. I can only do it a few times a day since it is usually very tiring, but I didn't know what it might be until I entered the magical world and ran across a book on animangus transformations."

"Young man, you can't seriously expect me to believe that you are an animangus!" she interrupted.

"Of course not, if you'd let me finish! As I was saying, I ran across a book about animangi and it described something similar to what I can do. In the book an animangus was described as a magical person having the ability to change into one animal form and back again. Ever since I can remember I have been able to change into animals, as in plural, a few times per day. I believe it was this animorphing ability that was partially triggered by the Sorting hat since I've been able to slowly work myself back to a normal appearance using my ability."

"That is quite possibly the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! If you're not fibbing then prove it!"

"Alright, I'll go with cat, raccoon, and back." Concentrating on image of the last house cat that I saw, I changed into a garishly striped pink and purple cat. Waiting a few moments before changing again and performing the dreaded cat rub against legs and purr technique, I changed into a black, white, and fuchsia raccoon mid leap onto the seat of a chair. I sat on my new haunches and tittered at her stunned expression for a few moments before changing back into human form. The only positive note being that my human form was now colored as if I was trying to imitate a raccoon of unusual size.

"Interesting, that went better than I expected," I said while studying my new coloration.

"How so? Other than having an ability that was thought to be impossible, you still are not back to rights," the Madam commented.

"As you'll notice, the cat had stripes, the raccoon only had one extra color, and the extra color went away when I changed back into my starting point. If things continue this well then I should be back to normal by the end of the week."

"Well, at least you're presentable now, though you will be staying the night just to make sure," she said before opening the door.

What greeted us on the other side of the door was by far one of the scariest sights to be had. Professor's Sprout, McGonagall, and Dumbledore were in a whispering discussion that stopped when they noticed that I had re-entered the room. Several male students were lying on beds passed out with the occasional nosebleed or split lip among the conscious ones. Professor Flitwick was sitting up in bed looking dazed and was mumbling to himself.

The next events happened in a blur, but the most notable moments were that Madam Pomfrey took one look at all of the wounded and immediately set to work in healing the students. Professor Flitwick took one look at me and shrieked, "RACCOOOONNNN!!!" before feinting again. (We later found out that he was deathly afraid of raccoons.) And I received my punishment for the whole fiasco from Headmaster Dumbledore since my Head of House was ill.

In the end, Ravenclaw was docked 150 points. I received four weeks of detentions, one week each with Flitwick, Sprout, McGonagall, and Dumbledore. I was also assigned my own special class times with Professor McGonagall and Flitwick to learn how to use my metal wand more efficiently so that incidents like this one were less likely to happen in the future.


End file.
